His Darkest Days
by Murayama-Tsuru
Summary: First he loses his sister and something strange attaches itself to his arm. He eventually hurts one of the people who keeps him sane. And the one who needs to be the hero to save everyone is taking his sweet time in getting around to the saving everone bit. The story of Ovan and his descent into A.I.D.A and his plans for making Haseo do what needs to be done before it's too late.
1. Lost One

**Hello again or for the first time, Murayama Tsuru here. Recently I've been playing .Hack/G.U. and .Hack/Link and this story idea wouldn't leave me alone. It wouldn't leave me alone so much that I couldn't update my Gintama stories…(not really an excuse but still ^_^). So, here's a story about Ovan. A long time ago I wrote another .Hack/ story. Don't go read it, it's terrible. I really wasn't very good at writing back then. But I just can't get myself to delete that story off this site…well anyway, I hope you enjoy this story.**

_**Disclaimer: I don't own .Hack/Roots or .Hack/G.U. or anything else .Hack/ related. It belongs to CyberConnect2 and Bandai Namco games.**_

His darkest day was undoubtedly a few days after his sister fell into a coma, not the day it happened. The day the AIDA claimed her seemed like an incredibly bad dream at first. He'd seen it happen, he was powerless against the thing that possessed his arm and stole his sister from him. But, it hadn't seemed real at the time.

The next thing he remembered was waking up, face down, on his keyboard. He sat up and winced, feeling like hell, his whole body aching from the position he'd slept in. And his left arm felt the worst; like someone had taken a sledge hammer to it. But when he looked at it, he only saw a small, almost black, bruise on the crook of his arm, that left him wondering if what happened wasn't a dream after all.

He then felt his cell phone buzz; he saw that he had at least five missed calls from his parents. His heart sank; that nightmare he'd just woken up from couldn't be true, could it? He then listened to the messages his parents had left him, and dread took hold of him; Aina had collapsed yesterday evening and hadn't woken up since.

Fully awake now, he bolted out the door of his apartment to his car, ignoring the growing pain in his arm, the pulse that ominously felt like someone was laughing at him. He drove to the hospital like a person on the run. In hindsight, he considered himself extremely lucky that there had been no cops around.

When he entered the hospital, he practically yelled at the receptionist to tell him where his sister's room was located. The woman looked up from her computer in a huff and took off a pair of what looked like goggles. He then realized that she had been playing 'The World' when she was supposed to be working. How had she kept her job with a work ethic like hers he thought? He then realized that she probably hadn't expected someone so early in the morning.

Deep in his angry musings, he almost missed when the receptionist asked, "Sir, what patient's room are you looking for?"

"Indou Aina." He said curtly

The woman checked her computer and, after a minute, told him a room number. He then took off running without asking her directions. Which may have been, in hindsight, a bad idea, but he was in a hurry at the time and hadn't spared a thought for directions.

When he finally made it to his sister's room, his mother was there waiting for him, "Masato, what took you so long?"

He could see that his mother had been crying, it made him want to cry as well, "I'm sorry, I came as quickly as I could. But, in my rush, I forgot to ask for directions to the room. I'm afraid the receptionist must think me crazy now…How is she?"

His mother gave him a small, sad smile, even his small joke couldn't cheer her up, it seemed, "She's stable now. The doctors don't seem to be able to give me reason this happened, though. I told them she had been playing on the computer when she collapsed. But, they brushed me off and told me it was unimportant." Pain lanced through Masato's heart, hearing that. He knew it had been that thing's fault; his fault that his sister was in this condition now.

When he saw his precious sister, she looked like she was sleeping. He felt an uncontrollable urge to shake her awake. But he didn't because he knew it wouldn't work. The despair that followed this realization almost crushed him where he stood. But he knew he couldn't breakdown here, in the hospital. If he did, his mother's breakdown would surely follow soon thereafter.

'There must be something I can do,' Masato thought desperately, 'Since 'The World' is the cause, the answer must be there as well.'

A while later, Masato left Aina's hospital room, seeing that there was nothing he could do and that he and his mother had run out of things to talk about that didn't lead back to Aina and Masato revealing something that would make his mother hate him. Numbly, he walked down the halls, returning to the front desk. Once there, the same receptionist as earlier asked, "Did you find who you were looking for? You took off without letting me tell you where the room was, I was worried."

"Yes," Masato said tiredly, "I found her."

"How was she?" the woman asked, wanting to make conversation. But Masato, not wanting to talk about it anymore, not wanting to relive, yet again, the details of how his sister ended up this way, evaded her question by asking one of his own, "I saw you playing 'The World' earlier. What character model do you play?"

The lady's eyes lit up at the question and she answered enthusiastically, her apology superficial to Masato's ears, "So you did notice? I'm sorry about that then. I play a Shadow Warlock named…"

Masato didn't hear the rest of her sentence; he felt like he'd just been punched in the gut that was the character model _she_ had played as well. The reminder, again, that this was all his fault...

The pain crippling him afresh, Masato gave one last nod to the receptionist and staggered out to his car. After what seemed like an eternity, he finally arrived back at his apartment. Once he was inside his room, he logged on the "The World"

Once he was on, he knew something was wrong immediately. He had been logged in to not the root town as usual, but the place Aina had fallen into a coma. He then felt his arm pulse and when he looked down at it his eyes widened and his breath was stolen from his lungs.

The thing that had stolen Aina from him had attached itself to his avatar's arm. What used to be a normal arm was now a grotesque, demonic looking thing; the shoulder extended into a crooked triangular shape, the hand holding a wicked blade.

The thing seemed to convulse then, as if it was shaking in uncontrollable laughter. Suddenly a voice sounded in Masato's head, _"So you've returned, epitaph user of the Rebirth."_

"What the hell are you talking about?" Masato said, fury etched in his voice. He only understood about half of what his…arm had just said. Having read the Epitaph of Twilight to Aina many times, he knew that the Rebirth referred to Corbenik, the last of the eight phases of Morganna. But the rest of the sentence made no sense.

"_So you really don't know?"_ the voice said finally, amusement coloring its voice

"No I don't. What did you do with my sister?"

"_Oh her,"_ it said, seemingly bored with where this conversation was going, _"I guess I can show her to you…What's left of her anyway."_

His possessed arm then moved in an arc to his side and large stacks of books that hadn't been there before appeared. Amidst the stacks of books, the sound of a rocking chair could be heard. Masato turned toward the sound, and for the second time that day, the breath was stolen from his lungs. There was his sister sitting in the chair, the Epitaph of Twilight sitting open in her lap.

Masato then started sprinting toward her, he had to know if she was alright. But before he could get very far, he stopped abruptly, feeling the cold steel of a blade against his throat.

"_Ah, ah, ah,"_ the voice echoed again, _"I only said I'd let you see her. If you want to touch, you'll have to follow my instructions for a while."_

Masato looked at the soulless form of his sister on the rocking chair; he then looked down at the wicked blade pressed against his throat. A frustrated scream tore from his mouth; he knew he had to do what that thing said. If he didn't the thing that had possessed his arm would kill him and he would never get the chance to save his sister.

"Fine…" Masato said, resignation coloring his voice, "I'll do what you ask."

"_Good,"_ the voice said, and Masato felt his arm drop from his neck, _"then I will give you power beyond the system of this 'world' and you will become its God. But, there's still so much for you to learn…"_

"Yes…" Masato said quietly, not really hearing anything, no thought on his mind other than reviving his sister. The voice said something else that Masato didn't hear and then, he was blinking at a blank screen.

After a few more blinks, Masato realized that somehow that thing had logged him out of "The World" and his was back in his apartment. There was a beat and Masato realized that he hadn't been able to save his sister right away. The crushing pain hit him yet again and he found it hard to breathe for a few moments.

And then, after thinking how his sister would reprimand him for moping about his current situation, he stood up, thinking that he needed much more information about these 'Epitaph Users' (Yes, I know, you guys are going to berate me for making Ovan-kun seem ignorant at the moment. But, I imagine that he had to start his quest for knowledge somewhere and this seems to be as good a place as any).

* * *

"You want to borrow a copy of the Jun Banshouya file?" Hino Takumi repeated, looking as if Masato had asked him something impossible

Instead of yelling about how urgent in was that he look at those files, Ovan put on a fake smile and nodded, "Yes, that is what I would like. It doesn't have to be the actual file; a copy of a copy would do just fine. But, I am assuming that you can't?"

Takumi gave Masato a look that reminded the older man that Takumi Hino actually was 17 and not much older than the age that he acted most of the time. Takumi then said, "That's fine, I can give you a copy of the Jun Banshoya file. But can't you just look it up at work? You do work at the Network Administration Bureau after all."

Masato shook his head, smile still in place, "No, I want to look at it in a more…personal capacity. Looking at it at work would just cause unnecessary trouble."

Takumi pursed his lips slightly and looked as he was about to say no. But then, after a while, "Sure I'll give you a copy. But, I expect my usual payment, though."

"Yes, of course," Masato said, "and what kind of information do you want this time Wiseman-san?"

"Why you want the Jun Banshouya file and why you can't look at it at work." Takumi said immediately

At that, Masato's smile dropped and he shook his head without saying another word. Takumi looked at him and Masato wondered if his younger friend could see right through him to the black pit that had become his soul since his sister had been taken away. After a moment, though, Takumi turned around and rummaged through a drawer for few moments. He then gave Masato a flash drive and said with a sigh, "Here you go, the Jun Banshouya file. You may not be willing to answer me now, but I will expect payment eventually…" Takumi trailed off, the 'even if I have to force it out of you' left unsaid, but hung between the two friends like an echo.

"I know," Masato said with a nod, "maybe when this is all over and she has been returned to me, I'll tell you about it. But for now…" he trailed off, unable to say anything else at the moment.

And with that, the conversation came to an end and Masato got ready to leave. As he was just about through the door though, he heard Takumi say softly, a twinge of both regret and conviction in his voice "I am going to find your secret out, old friend, whether you want me to or not. Now that you haven't told me, I have to know…"

Masato gave Takumi one last look and shook his head slightly, but said nothing in response as he walked through the door, letting it slam shut behind him.

* * *

Masato pored over the Jun Banshouya (I know it's transliterated at Bansyoya officially, but I prefer Banshouya because that's how it would be written in Japanese) file for days; he listened to all 12 entries so many times that he practically memorized them…and yet, he found nothing particularly useful in them. When they had been leaked to the internet (I don't know if they were leaked in .Hack/ canon, but for the sake of this story they were ^_^) Masato had looked at them like everyone else in his office. He hadn't thought much of the file, though, as it hadn't been of much interest to him (at the time), nor did he have the time to take away from work to look at it all that closely.

And this look-over of the files was just as useless as his first skim when it first came out. Sure, Project G.U. was interesting, and given other circumstances he would have thought more highly about the contents. But, his sister in the state she was, and not any closer to getting any better than when before he had looked at the file more closely, Masato could care less about Project G.U. or Epitaph P.C.s or the boy who first became an 'epitaph user', Misaki Ryou, or the boy who had started all this, Kite.

He did find it interesting that the Morganna Factors had begun to fuse with P.C.s in The World and it explained what that Thing had called him (even though the question of why that thing knew what he was, was still unanswered). But, the Jun Banshouya File contained nothing about how to save his sister, so it was a fruitless effort that made Masato despair.

Again, Masato thought to himself, that the answer would more likely be in the world than on a file about a previous version so Masato decided to log on again. It had been awhile as the Jun Banshyouya file had taken up a lot of his time because he kept hoping that he would find something in it that would cure his sister. But since there was nothing, Masato knew that he would have to go back to The World.

He logged back in and, somehow, he ended up back in that same white room where Aina rocked endlessly in that chair, staring out into nothing. But something was different, he didn't hear that Thing's voice in his head.

As he was about to walk over to Aina, though, he felt a pulse from somewhere inside him and another voice spoke to him, _'I have found you.'_ there was another pulse from within Masato's character and something seemed to burst out of him and envelop him in light that was at once painful and soothing at the same time.

And then, the sensation was over and Masato was left wanting more. Masato opened his eyes (not realizing that he had closed them in the first place) and his eyes widened at what he saw (this was becoming an unfortunately regular occurrence for him).

The ugly, monstrous thing that had been protruding out of his arm before was now covered by a large metal cylinder. As he was wondering what had happened, the second sounded in his head again, _'This is only a temporary measure. I cannot keep it contained forever…it will break out and take control of you when the seal weakens…'_

Many questions flooded into Masato's head, but the only ones he seemed able to voice were, "What took Aina from me? Who are you? Why is this happening to me?"

The first question, the voice answered with a simple, cryptic, _'AIDA.'_

The second question, the voice answered, even more cryptically,_ 'I am Corbenik. I am the Rebirth. I am you. You are me. We are one.'_

The third question, the voice did not answer. Ovan then asked another question, "How can I save her?"

The whole room seemed to echo with the answer, _'Data Drain.'_

Masato was about to shout in rage how in the world he was supposed to do that, but before he could say anything he felt another pulse from inside him and a strange blue space enveloped the white room. He looked down to see that he had changed once again. Now he was Corbenik, a sort of human-looking being with elongated limbs and torso. There were what looked to be leaves on its head that seemed to function as eyes. And on the chest, there was another eye that glowed in a dull, white gleam.

Masato felt like was watching from two places at once then, from inside Corbenik and from outside watching the scene in both horror and amazement. Masato watched as one hand began to glow and a large, red cannon sprouted out of seemingly nowhere and aimed at his sister, charging something of considerable energy.

As the cannon shot an energy ball toward his sister, Masato wanted to shout at his Avatar to stop; but something stopped the words at his lips. Something akin to hope bubbled up inside him as he remembered that Data Drain was something that could 'purge' corrupted data from something. And, as his sister was blasted with the ball of energy, he hoped that she would wake from her slumber.

But, as the blue space faded and Masato touched the ground again, his sister did not awaken. She did not even stir and Masato knew that he had failed. As he sank to his knees, head in his hands, he heard laughter and a voice said, "You thought you could save her like that, with your untrained powers?"

He had no answer to the AIDA's question so the laughter continued and Masato fell into despair once again.

**And that is the end of the first chapter. At first this story was, perhaps, going to be a oneshot, but that just didn't happen. So, I think that it will have 3-5 chapters…maybe… Also, I think, maybe, Ovan (Masato) is a little out of character. But, even as I played the game I couldn't really get a handle on his character, so I hope I got close. Next chapter we will probably meet Shino and other Roots characters. So, until next chapter then. Reviews are always appreciated and I love to know what you guys think. Even if it's to tell me that this story is utter crap and I shouldn't try to write about Ovan because I have no idea what I'm talking about ^_^**

**-****村山鶴**


	2. Shino

**Hey guys, Murayama Tsuru here. Here's the second chapter, I hope you enjoy ^_^**

_**Disclaimer: I don't own .Hack/Roots or .Hack/G.U. or anything else .Hack/ related. It belongs to CyberConnect2 and Bandai Namco games.**_

The next while, Masato didn't remember how long, was sort of a long, painful blur. After logging out after his failure to save his sister with Data Drain, he had fallen into a pretty deep depression. He would log on some days or he wouldn't log on at all. Or, he would attempt to find a clue or a solution or anything that would point him in any sort of direction that would save his sister. But, he never found anything definitive which would bring a crushing sense of defeat all over again.

It got to the point that Masato was very close to an edge that once he walked over it, he would never be able to return. And yet, there was no forward movement toward saving his sister at all, so Masato continued his downward spiral toward that edge he was afraid crossing.

During this point, Masato hardly ever went to work as well. Some days, he just couldn't get himself to leave his apartment for fear that he would miss something crucial to saving his sister. But, the times he did manage to go to work his colleagues would ask if everything was alright or that he knew how much trouble he was in with the boss; in either case, Ovan would say nothing, keeping his colleagues at a distance.

And then, when he was at his lowest, he found her. He had been wandering around the bazaar in Mac Anu aimlessly when he sensed something that made him stop. He couldn't even put a name to the sense, but it made him stop and look around. His eyes were then drawn, somehow, to a female Harvest Cleric dressed all in white.

Masato didn't know what came over him then, but he found himself walking over to where the girl was and introducing himself. After the girl's initial surprise, her features softened and she replied, "I'm Shino."

The two then began talking about various things and Masato at once felt comfortable with this Shino. So comfortable, in fact, that he almost told her about his sister. Yet, he stopped himself at the last second (somehow he felt that revealing something so personal at a first meeting didn't seem the most appropriate).

So instead, he asked her if she would like to meet with him again sometime (which, even to his ears, sounded pretty awkward…) but then she said yes and they then exchanged Member Addresses. Shino then said she had to log off as she had class to go to (such was the dilemma of a university student) and left Ovan wondering why he had decided to talk to her.

So he logged off himself, determined to figure out what in the world had drawn him to the stranger. After looking through the Jun Banshouya file once more (he just couldn't give it up), he saw the detail that most of the Morganna phases had escaped into the system of the world and he gathered that Shino was probably another Epitaph User like him.

An idea then occurred to Masato, if one Epitaph User's Data Drain wasn't enough to save Aina, then the power of all eight phases might be enough. Masato, then resolved to somehow gather all eight phases…he didn't actually know what he would do after that but there would be time to figure that out later.

The next time Masato met with Shino, he felt the same sense he had last time; that she was some sort of kin (in some way). The two spent time together, talking about the mysteries of the world. And after they'd met up in The World several times, and they got to know each other, Ovan felt comfortable enough to tell her about what had happened to his sister.

But then he realized that Takumi was probably watching from somewhere (trying to find out his secret) and so he asked Shino to meet him offline. She looked at him with slight confusion and asked him why he couldn't tell her online, but Masato just shook his head and said that if she couldn't come that would be fine, thinking that he would just have to find somewhere where they wouldn't be watched (he really trusted this girl).

There was pause in which Masato thought that Shino would say no but then she said, "Sure, I'd love to meet you." the two then began talking about when to meet up and where and what the other looked like in real life.

* * *

And then the day came that they met up, in a small, secluded café (something that isn't all that easy to find in Tokyo, to be sure). They started off their conversation with small talk about themselves which eventually led to Ovan saying that he had a sister who played The World as well.

"Oh?" Shino responded, "Really? I've never seen her with you."

Masato smiled sadly at that, "No, you wouldn't have. She's been in the hospital for a while now and hasn't been able to log on."

Concern colored Shino's face then and she asked, "Oh, what happened?"

Masato's smile became even smaller, "Well you see…" and Masato began explaining what happened to his sister when that thing attached to his arm.

By the end of his recounting, Shino had tears in her eyes and cried out, "Masato-san, you poor thing! Have they found any cure?"

Masato shook his head 'no', sorrow at what had happened gripping him again. When he finally found his words again he said, "But, I think that the answer lies in the world. If we can find the Key of the Twilight I think we'll find what we need. I also think that the answers lie in the other Eight Phases of Morganna."

At that, Shino looked confused so Masato began explaining what he knew about the events of the first version of The World leading up to the failure of the RA (Revive Aura) plan and the burning of CC Corp. Once he was done, Shino looked pensive about what Masato had just told him.

Just as Masato was beginning to think that what he had told Shino had been too much for her to handle at one time, she said, "Why don't we create a guild?"

"Excuse me?" was the only response Masato could come up with, he had not been expecting that at all.

Shino then began to speak excitedly, "Well, you see, if we made guild it could serve both goals to look for the Key of the Twilight and help you look for other Epitaph Users. What do you think, Masato-san?"

Masato thought about that for a while and decided that it would be a good idea. It would probably also keep Takumi satisfied enough (hopefully) that he wouldn't look into Masato's affairs too much more for the moment.

Masato eventually nodded his acquiescence to Shino's idea and she smiled, "Now, all we need is a name."

Masato smiled in return, "How about the Twilight Brigade?"

And that was how the Twilight Brigade was formed (perhaps, maybe, but I may have gotten it wrong ^_^), the two people brought together by Masato's search for a way to save his sister. And for a while it was only the two of them, looking through The World's history to see if there was any clue there.

* * *

As the two spent more time together, Masato noticed something about Shino. He thought for a while that it a little bit strange for her to be hanging around him (as he imagined that he came off as a rather strange person) and he would start to notice the little things about her like she seemed to hang onto his every word or be disappointed when he wouldn't log on because he had to go to work or even if he wouldn't answer an email within a short amount of time.

And then he began to realize that the girl seemed to have feelings for him (at least, that's what I got out of how Shino acted throughout Roots). At first it baffled him completely as to why she developed any sort of love toward him. And then, a much uglier side of him told him that he could use those feelings to his advantage to get her to do what he needed if he wasn't there to do it himself.

Masato immediately regretted these feelings, but, at the same time, he didn't deny them either. It was then that the Twilight Brigade gained three members, Bset, as soft-spoken yet tough woman, Gord an impulsive player of The World, and Sakisaka, the strangest looking character of the bunch, with his helmet that looked like an onion and his goggles that would occasionally show words depending on his mood. It was then that Masato realized the by creating this guild, he had attracted some very strange characters (not that he minded, being a strange character himself).

After this the group of five had a lot of fun (the most fun Masato had had since his sister had fallen into a coma in fact) searching for the Lost Grounds, Virus Cores, and (most importantly), the Key of the Twilight. There was hardly any success to be had in any of their endeavors, but all the same, Masato found himself enjoying himself somewhat.

But, at the same time, there were times when the AIDA that attached itself to his arm would get restless, making Masato go where it wanted to. It was times like those that Masato couldn't attend his brigade so he made sure that Shino would know what to do during those times that he wasn't able to break free of control of the AIDA.

At first, he would resist these times more than anything, and every time that the AIDA would finally release control he would feel terrible and find himself in the middle of a sign that looked like a cross between an "A" and a triangle. Invariably, he would also find that some poor soul had met an unfortunate fate at the hands of his AIDA. And soon, rumors of a being called Tri-Edge began to form. But, Masato soon learned that the less he resisted the control of the AIDA, the less damage it would cause and that meant less people who ended up like his sister.

And then, things seemed to start falling apart. Bset, who had eventually confessed to Masato that she had only joined the Twilight Brigade to get closer to him, left stating that she no longer wanted to be used for Masato's own gains.

Then, as quickly as Gord had arrived, he decided to leave again stating that the Brigade was no longer something that he found fun. And that left Shino, himself, and Sakisaka as the remaining members. This brought, once again (as if he'd really forgotten) that his sister needed saving and they were getting nowhere fast and Aina was no closer to waking up from her coma.

Masato knew, of course, that Bset was right, he was just using the people around him for his own gains. But, this was the only thing that Masato knew how to do. The only way he could think of to find who he was looking for. So he continued trying to find the Key of the Twilight with the only people he had left.

* * *

One day, a small cat-looking character came up to him and asked, "Do you know Aina? In real life?"

Just the mention of her name was painful to Masato, but he nodded and said yes, he knew her quite well. The cat-like character then asked, "Then do you know what happened to her? I've been missing our chats on the bridge."

Masato was puzzled for a moment as to who this character was. And then he remembered his sister had once mentioned someone she would talk to when Masato couldn't log on to spend time with her. He also remembered the rumors about the 'fixture' of the Mac Anu, bridge, a cat-like player who always seemed to be around. If Masato remembered correctly, the character's name was Phyllo.

Just as Masato realized this, Phyllo becoming slightly impatient with Masato's silence asked once again, "If you know anything about Aina-chan, I would love to hear about it. She was a dear friend to me…"

Masato shook his head, and not wanting to reveal to a perfect stranger that he was both related to Aina and was the reason (he thought so anyway) that she couldn't log onto The World anymore so he said "I'm afraid not. I don't know much about her other than she can't log on for the moment."

Phyllo looked crestfallen but then the character looked as if he suspected something and said, "You're not telling me everything, are you? I remember Aina-chan talking about a character who much resembles yourself."

Masato sucked in a breath, but pushed his lips together and said nothing. There was a pause and then Phyllo shook his head and said a little sadly, "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. But, if the case arises that you want to talk to me, you know where I'll be."

And then the character turned away and Masato felt that he had done something wrong. He had turned away a friend of his sister's and lost an opportunity to see a side of her that he may have never seen before. So, before he knew it, he was following the path Phyllo had taken and found himself on the bridge where Phyllo spent so much time.

Phyllo seemed then turned and saw Masato who said, "The truth is, Aina is my sister. And the reason that she can't some see you is because she fell ill and is in the hospital at the moment?"

Phyllo's next question was not something that Masato expected, "And what hospital is she in?"

Masato gave his answer and Phyllo said, "That's where I go as well. When I next have to go, I'll be sure to see if I can visit her. If that's ok with you, that is." Masato nodded, not really knowing what else to do (if Phyllo was indeed Aina's friend, then there wasn't any problem in him visiting).

Phyllo nodded again and then gave Masato his member address, "If there's anything else you need to talk to me about. Or if you just want to listen to an old man babble, I'll be here." And he logged out wondering who Phyllo was in real life.

And then, another period in Masato felt as if he was slipping into a dark abyss of sorts. There were only himself, Shino, and Sakisaka left and they hardly did anything that would help him find anything to save his sister. But, whenever Masato felt himself slipping too far away, he would talk to either Phyllo or Shino and his pain would ease just a little (even though he still hadn't told Phyllo or Shino the whole story).

* * *

And then one day, he ran into a large panther-looking character who said to him, "It's good to see you again Masato. Are you ready to tell me your secret?"

Masato narrowed his eyes, "Takumi, why are you still interfering? Didn't I tell you that I'd let you know what was going on once it was safe for me to do so?"

"And when would that be?" Takumi asked, "I've heard that strange things have been going in The World that may not be 'safe'. Like those signs that have been appearing recently."

"Is that why you decided to make your presence known?"

"That, and," Takumi said with a nod towards Masato's arm, "your character model seems to have changed somewhat. I don't remember that cylinder being there before."

Masato said nothing and the two friends (sort of) stared at each other. Takumi then said, "Well, I guess I should reintroduce myself then, shouldn't I?"

"No," Masato said with a shake of his head, "I know who you are. You're Naobi, the leader of TaN, the trading guild."

"Very good," Takumi said with a smirk, "I see you haven't lost your edge in information gathering."

Masato sighed, "Is there any reason you've decided to come talk to me now? It would have been much easier if I knew from the get go which character you were using to stalk me."

"Stalk you?" Takumi said, "No, I'm just doing my job and monitoring you. I'm not the only one who noticed your new arm. CC Corp is rather suspicious of it as well."

Masato had known this was coming for some time now. Even though he'd tried to keep a relatively low profile, having the strange arm he did and looking for the Key of the Twilight as he was an inherently strange thing that caused attention of its own accord. But still, having his friend be the one who kept an eye on him was somehow not a very appealing idea.

But, rather than tell Takumi to keep his nose out of business that wasn't his to begin with, Masato sighed again, "Well, do as you wish. I know I won't be able to stop you anyway."

And Masato turned to leave, not having anything else to say to his old friend. As he was walking away, though, Takumi called out, "I'll be watching you Ovan."

Masato ignored Takumi and continued walking over to the Chaos Gate, to find someplace to go that was away from his friend. Once there, he noticed IYOTEN and Asta, two characters who were notorious for going after and PKing characters that were new to The World talking to a player that was clearly new to The World.

Masato was about to ignore the three but then the same feeling that he had with Shino hit him and Masato knew that he had to follow. So he immediately followed after once they decided on an area. He followed the three of them as they 'taught' the boy how to play The World (Masato didn't see how the boy could fall for their bad acting…).

And, once they got to the Beast Temple and Haseo (he had finally learned the boy's name) had opened the treasure, IYOTEN and Asta finally showed their true colors and began attacking him (which was when Masato arrived). Masato could see the fear and confusion in the boy's eyes and wondered for a second if this boy really was one of the people he was looking for.

But, the feeling persisted and as Haseo fell, Masato stepped in and easily took the two attackers down. Once they were gone, he walked over to Haseo and for some reason could sense the fear and suspicion from whoever was the real person behind the character.

Masato lifted his hand and extended it toward Haseo, saying, "Welcome to 'The World'."

**And that is the end of that chapter ^_^ I hope I improved on Ovan's character a bit. Also, I know I probably glossed over a lot of details of what happened between the times when Ovan met Shino, they formed the Twilight Brigade and Ovan met Haseo. But, I imagine that before Haseo, Ovan didn't really care about what happened in The World when his sister was still in a coma. So, until next chapter then ^_^ As always, reviews are always appreciated and I love to know what you guys think.**

**-****村山鶴**


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